No, it’s not called gas monkey garage. The real name should be the Richard Rawlings show. I realize that the show is dumbed down a little bit as not to lose some of the audience. There’s another show on Motor Trend network with a guy who builds cars, with a similar haircut and goatee. That guy builds beautiful trucks, but if I feel like he is ripping off Richard, I can’t imagine how Richard Rawlings might feel.
The early shows were more comedy driven. If you were to be in a legal state like Colorado, you might find some extra humor built-in. Later, the show changed dynamics a few different times. The show was more serious and even had some tension with the head mechanic Aaron Kaufman. He butted heads with Rawlings and wanted to focus on racing. After the show with the Falcon, it lost some luster for me. I was not entertained watching Aaron go out and lose races.
The drama. The arguments over builds and colors were obvious and manifested with Aaron pulling up stakes. I guess Richard was really close with his head mechanic, because if you left me in that situation, I would use my TV show and IG account to turn that vacancy into a national search for the best mechanic who wanted to replace him. Could have done trial builds and it could have been made into something cool. There are plenty of great fabricators and car builders who would have loved to be on that show! Instead it was treated as a melancholy moment. Aaron’s replacement was not really highlighted. Meantime, Aaron started his own TV show. I’ve tried watching it a few times, and it just doesn’t hold the entertainment value.
Gas Monkey crew? There’s a new guy on with Richard, he’s also on Garage Rehab. He seems like a nice enough dude, but I do not like seeing him on GMG. I feel like he is another alpha dog, and too much in Rawlings business. I would prefer Dennis Collins be more prominent. Dennis is one of Richards’ friends and moneyman from the Dallas car world who is a Jeep fanatic. He is non assuming, and allows the star to shine brighter.
Richard is amazing on the American Psyche, a successful guy who started with a normal family and brings the audience along to share in his success. Selling his builds for hundreds of thousands of dollars, racing horses, or monster trucks, hanging out with Burt Reynolds. That’s the good part.
The flip? The best part of Fast N’ Loud, are the authentic buyers, doing the Texas wheeling dealing. If he’s buying or selling it is always entertaining as hell. This is the true magic of the TV show and the High Point on any episode for me. Classic high and low.
I read his book, got it in hard cover. Decent read. It’s the Texas businessman in bluejeans that is above all the welding, and drama, that make the show entertaining. It’s fun watching this guy make money buying something broken down, getting it running and selling it for a few grand more. In a way, Richard Rawlings is some sort of a role model. Capitalism and cold ones.